Topologically convergent and divergent morphological gray matter networks in early-stage Parkinson's disease with and without mild cognitive impairment

• Main Authors: Gong, Q. (Author), Kemp, G.J (Author), Lei, D. (Author), Li, J. (Author), Li, N. (Author), Li, W. (Author), Peng, J. (Author), Peng, R. (Author), Qin, K. (Author), Suo, X. (Author), Yang, J. (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: John Wiley and Sons Inc 2021
• Subjects: adult; aged; Aged; Article; brain cortex; brain region; cerebellar network; cerebellum; Cerebellum; Cerebral Cortex; clinical article; cognitive defect; Cognitive Dysfunction; complication; connectome; controlled study; data analysis software; default mode network; Default Mode Network; diagnostic accuracy; diagnostic imaging; diagnostic test accuracy study; diagnostic value; disease classification; female; Female; frontal gyrus; frontoparietal network; gray matter; Gray Matter; gray matter volume; human; Humans; lingual gyrus; magnetic resonance imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; male; Male; middle aged; Middle Aged; mild cognitive impairment; nerve cell network; Nerve Net; neuropsychological test; nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; parietal gyrus; Parkinson disease; Parkinson Disease; Parkinson's disease; pathology; pathophysiology; psychoradiology; support vector machine
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 Patients with Parkinson's disease with mild cognitive impairment (PD-M) progress to dementia more frequently than those with normal cognition (PD-N), but the underlying neurobiology remains unclear. This study aimed to define the specific morphological brain network alterations in PD-M, and explore their potential diagnostic value. Twenty-four PD-M patients, 17 PD-N patients, and 29 healthy controls (HC) underwent a structural MRI scan. Similarity between interregional gray matter volume distributions was used to construct individual morphological brain networks. These were analyzed using graph theory and network-based statistics (NBS), and their relationship to neuropsychological tests was assessed. Support vector machine (SVM) was used to perform individual classification. Globally, compared with HC, PD-M showed increased local efficiency (p =.001) in their morphological networks, while PD-N showed decreased normalized path length (p =.008). Locally, similar nodal deficits were found in the rectus and lingual gyrus, and cerebellum of both PD groups relative to HC; additionally in PD-M nodal deficits involved several frontal and parietal regions, correlated with cognitive scores. NBS found that similar connections were involved in the default mode and cerebellar networks of both PD groups (to a greater extent in PD-M), while PD-M, but not PD-N, showed altered connections involving the frontoparietal network. Using connections identified by NBS, SVM allowed discrimination with high accuracy between PD-N and HC (90%), PD-M and HC (85%), and between the two PD groups (65%). These results suggest that default mode and cerebellar disruption characterizes PD, more so in PD-M, whereas frontoparietal disruption has diagnostic potential. © 2021 The Authors. Human Brain Mapping published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.